But it wasn’t the Yankees’ day. And they didn’t really deserve it to be their day. Because what followed that lucky bounce was far more indicative of the way the Yankees played in losing 8-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber game of their three-game series at Yankee Stadium today.

Trailing 6-5, with Martin on second and no one out, Ichiro Suzuki failed on two sacrifice bunt attempts before softly lining out to shallow center. Eric Chavez then struck out swinging and Derek Jeter hit a lazy fly ball to right.

By the time the Yankees batted in the ninth, the Jays had added two more runs to their lead. The Yankees were on their way to a loss that was not only discouraging because it came to a no-name team that occupies last place in the American League East, but it came with ace CC Sabathia on the mound. And it came on a day the Yankees gave Sabathia a pair of early leads with which to work.

That Girardi was even thinking the Yankees might need a fortuitous bounce or two to beat the Jays speaks volumes about the way the team is performing lately. In addition to some poor offensive execution, the Yankees also committed three errors, which led to four unearned runs. There were additional plays that should have been made.

“We gave them extra outs, which always hurts you as a club,” said Girardi. “We didn’t play well. That’s the bottom line. We had chances offensively. We didn’t get it done. We had chances defensively. We didn’t get it done. We didn’t make pitches when we had to. We had a ton of chances to score. But we didn’t get it done. We need to bounce back.”

Sabathia, making just his second start since returning from the disabled list, was staked to leads of 2-0 and 4-3.

In the third, after the Jays loaded the bases with no one out, Sabathia looked like he might pitch his way out of trouble when he got Mike McCoy to hit into a double play. What followed were broken bat, RBI singles from Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind, and a double by Yunel Escobar, which gave Toronto a 3-2 lead. Then, in the sixth, after the Yankees had taken a 4-3 lead, Sabathia surrendered a two-run home run to Escobar giving the Jays a 5-4 lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

“I felt pretty good,” Sabathia said. “I just didn’t make pitches. It’s disappointing. It’s my fault. Two-strike pitches killed me. We need to play better. We haven’t played well, and honestly, today it starts with me. I need to give us a chance to win. And I didn’t do that.”

The Yankees, who did not hit a home run for the second straight game – marking the first time they’ve gone back-to-back games without a long ball at home all season – are limping toward September without Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. A lead on the Orioles that was 10 games on July 18, was down to three games after today’s loss. Baltimore will be in the Bronx for three games beginning Friday night. It hardly seemed possible a month ago, but they’re in a race.

“You’re not happy, ever, to lose a ballgame,” said Girardi. “Show me a manager or player who’s happy to lose a game and I’ll show you a loser. We did not play well today.”

In fact, looking back over the past two weeks, playing subpar baseball is becoming a bit of a theme. The Yankees have won five of their last 13 and their next 10 games come against the Orioles and Rays, who unlike Toronto, have more to play for than pride.

“You’ve got to put it behind you,” Girardi said. “That’s all you can do.”